except 90%+ of biz owners wouldn't ban it. a lot of paying customers smoke, that'd be a lot of business they kick out the door. it's better that the government bans it so customers & biz owners can blame the govt and not hold any restaurant or bar accountable by not spending cash there anymore.

They have it banned in all public buildings and establishments here. It's great. It works well. As for public, open-air places, I can usually just walk to a place where I don't have to be around it.

The assumption there is that smokers will still go to the same places at the same frequency because smoking laws affect the entire industry and they won't have anywhere else to go. Not buying that.

seconded.

that's what happened here about 3 years ago.

The fact of the matter is everyone should have a right to clean air. You people freak out when the Bush adminstration allows a miniscule amount of arsenic water levels that don't matter. Yet putting 100 known poisons in the air in a confined space is okay?Smoking sections inside a resturant does not work. It's been proven. And no owner is going to choose to cut-off a significant part of his clientele, despite the fact there is lots of studies that show sales do not decrease after a smoking ban.

Also I pay tax dollars that eventually will go to pay for you to die of lung cancer. This is more of an issue in LA cause we have a state-run charity hospital system.

And like Jewel said, the door to the outside is five feet away.

I smkoe and have no problems with it. Never been much of an indoor smoker anyway. Even at my apartment, I smoke on the balcony.

Overall, I support a inside ban on smoking, even bars. I'm a smoker and it's no big deal for me to have a cig outside. I miss having a smoke and a pint (I had one in ATL and it was sweet), but overall, it's for the best. What I cannot fucking support is the ban on OUTDOOR smoking. Banning smoking on patios and upper decks is fucking ridiculous and generally elicits homicidal tendencies in me when people tell me that non-smokers deserve a smoke free outdoor patio. I hate those people and I hope they die.

I'm with you on this.

What smokers sometimes forget is that they elect to smoke. It's optional, non-important, recreational, for their (and only their) enjoyment. It's not medicine, it's not making a living. It's something they started doing when they were 14 because they thought it looked cool and now they don't wanna stop. And just because I didn't doesn't mean I'm in any way better. I just didn't. Thus, when I see the bar down the street from me (scary shithole) with an ENORMOUS sign out front protesting the indoor smoking ban ("Mayor & City Council: Give Us Our Town Back" ...?!?!), I am astounded.

If me chewing gum gave you cancer, made you smell like shit, and annoyed the piss out of you, I wouldn't chew fucking gum around you.

yeah, but it's exactly places like this that should be allowed to keep it. It sounds like you're pretty much cool with a serious health risk going in there, right?

shitholes should just be exempt from laws in general.

Man, how is it that so many people here will just let you get away with saying bullshit like this? No one but Mick even bothered to respond to this crap?

I don't give a FUCK what YOU think about smoking. YOUR smoking indoors interferes with MY RIGHTS, and I want indoor smoking BANNED.

This is a very polarizing argument. WHY CAN'T THERE BE MIDDLE GROUND??

I really DON'T care about no smoking indoors, in fact I will support it if the DEMAND is there. Because that is what it should boil down to. . . . . . . .what the FREE MARKET dictates!!!! If there is demand for a smoking venue, then let it be!!! If there is demand for non-smoking venue, then let THAT BE!!!

I smoke, and Ontario has passed one of the most strict anti-smoking policies I have ever seen, anywhere. No smoking anywhere indoors, and you have to be 10 feet away from entrances. I call bullshit on the entrances ban, SMOKE RISE YOU DOUCHEBAGS!! I hate these pussies who can't take the smell of cigarette smoke for the 10 FUCKING SECONDS they are outside. Relax son, that nutricious Big Mac will still be there tomrrow. My point is, we don't need a law if people just remain courteous to each other and respect each other's rights.

Any asshole who smokes in front of kids or pregnant women should be shot, but otherwise quit your complaining.

Cmon guys. . . . . .we have a president in office who is suspending habeus corpus against muslims. There are FAR more important issues out there than some stupid smoking ban.

Oh god yeah. I'm 90% sure that molo laws don't apply in there.

Wife and I walked in once 4 years ago, to see what was in there - it looks like an old shitty house. One of those "record screeched to a stop" moments, where we just sloooowly backed out the door. Place = SCARE-gee.

I should mention I have a slight bias as I also temp. for a tobacco company, not like that matters......

Interesting to note that this Republican administration has been the biggest anti-smoking assholes i've ever seen in office, and yet their biggest campaign contributor is Altria, who owns Philip Morris. . . . . . .fill in the blanks yourself.

I really love their hypocrisy. Republicans are real motherfuckers.

I was mainly just reacting to POD there.

And just this whole attitude of resentment towards people who actually choose not to do things that are bad for their health, etc. is just fucking preposterous.

Yes, there are some self-righteous pricks out there who think it's their God-given duty to educate all the smokers about what they're really doing to themselves as if they don't already know. I think those people are pretty few and far between, though. Just the mere fact that someone states that they don't smoke and that they think an indoor smoking ban is great doesn't put them in league with all of the condescending anti-smoking evengelists that poor smokers are so annoyed with.

Smokers have to quit their complaining too. They are acting like going outside to smoke is the worst injustice that has ever happened to them.


OMG MY RITEZ ARE LIEK TOTALLY BEING INFRIGNED!!!!11111

Shut the fuck up and get over yourself.

I have a problem with anti-smokers when they tell me I can't smoke while waiting for the bus to show up. Go fuck yourself too.

Bottom line is. . . . . .we are all humans. We all have imperfections. Let's just be considerate in the way we behave towards one another. If we don't, then the jews who control everything win. And the gays as well.

What did i do to get your panties in a twist?

I'd like to have a smoke with my beer, but i can't except at home. I respect the rules of any establishment i'm in. I respect the wishes of people who don't want to be around it as best as I can. I'm not asking for the right to smoke indoors NEXT TO YOU.

So please, just go fuck off. And I don't think anything I said was bullshit. You're saying "hey phil, fuck you and your rights", and yeah it's a right or else tobacco would be illegal period. I have the right to purchase it and consume it.

I pay my taxes, i vote, i do my part, and i follow the rules. I just want to have a beer, and a smoke simultaneously around like minded individuals.

Why the fuck is that a crime?

But mostly, i just want to say fuck off.

Thank you all, and have a good friday.

I guess what i really want to say is, can I at least take my beer outside with me when i go smoke? Is that too much to ask for?

Or do they automatically assume that I'll go on a drunken rampage in my truck?

Yea I never understood why you can't take your beer with you outside when you smoke.

Agreed. Most places here have a little fenced-off dealy outside the front door with tables, to make it legal. win-win.

This does make sense. There should at least be a little corral where I can take my beer with me. That is a fair request.

It's not just evangelists, and there sure are alot more of them than you think.

Didn't mean to lump you in with them.

jinx

Just wait, guys, your outdoor smoking ban is coming too. Those miserable cunts won't rest until we're all having a cigarette on Mars.